Security guard's dream to help young people thrive becoming reality

Rural camp for city youths looks for funding

Rural camp for city youths looks for funding

July 25, 2006|LEAH BOYD Tribune Staff Writer

CASSOPOLIS -- For two years Taffie Mallard has dreamed of opening a ranch for inner-city kids to come together and learn about outdoor life. And with a plan and mission for the ranch established, his dream is becoming more of a reality. Mallard, 59, is a former park police officer and a current high school security guard in South Bend who started My Ranch Inc. The nonprofit organization with a 15-member board is working to create a ranch for inner-city kids on a 579-acre parcel of land located off Penn Road between Vandalia and Cassopolis. His plan is to create a place where kids from big cities all over the country can ride horses, milk cows and learn that "there is a certain civility that can be found in the country and forever incorporated in their lives." The ranch, which will accommodate 400 to 500 children when finished, is estimated to cost about $23 million over the next four to six years. And just as Mallard told attendees of a My Ranch Inc. informational meeting Monday at the USDA Service Center in Cassopolis, the next step to making his project a reality is finding funds. "I'm praying hard and looking for public assistance," he said. Mallard, president of My Ranch Inc., along with three other board members spoke to representatives from the Village of Vandalia, USDA Rural Development, Michigan State University and other potentially influential organizations at Monday's meeting. "The biggest thing for us right now is funding," Deborah Mallard, My Ranch Inc. vice president, said. "We're looking for grants and donations and not even necessarily monetary ones. Some people have been offering services." She said My Ranch Inc. is something that needs the entire community's support because it will impact the entire community by creating better futures for children. "Right now children feel like life is nothing, that's why they feel like they can shoot each other," she said. "But what My Ranch Inc. will do is teach them that they are somebody. It's amazing to realize how many children just need for you to show them attention."